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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26145679">Liberté, Solidarité, Accessibilité</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/pseuds/silveradept'>silveradept</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ableist Language, Disabled Character, F/F, Paralysis, Queerplatonic Chloé Bourgeois &amp; Sabrina Raincomprix</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 11:20:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>19,256</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26145679</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/pseuds/silveradept</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Marinette had assumed that Chloé's absence from social media was temporary. When she's asked to deliver homework, she learns the far more permanent truth, and sets to the more difficult task of getting Chloé to find something encouraging in her new reality, for Sabrina's sake. Complicating things is the very real possibility that Chloé might be doing it for Marinette's sake instead.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Chloé Bourgeois/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>217</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Fandom Trumps Hate 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Discovery</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/milleniumrex/gifts">milleniumrex</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Created as a gift in thanks for a donation made during the Fandom Trumps Hate charity drive.</p><p>Sensitivity read and generally poked at by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/pipisafoat">pipisafoat</a>, any remaining error is mine and mine alone.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Mlle. Dupain-Cheng? I need to talk to you for a moment," Mme. Bustier said at the end of the first class session of the new year at Collège Françoise Dupont. Election of a class representative had been surprisingly easy this year. With no Chloé to stomp and throw her weight around, the class had fairly quickly re-elected Marinette to the position, with Alya as her deputy, and then gone on to the other business of beginning the school year.</p><p>"You're not in trouble, Marinette," Mme. Bustier said, after Marinette closed the door to the classroom. "Although I do hope that you have a better record this year for getting to class on time." She pulled a package out from under the desk. "This is not yet public knowledge, but Chloé Bourgeois will not be attending school for the beginning parts of the year. As class representative, I need you to deliver this to her, so that she has ample opportunity to stay current with her schoolwork while she is dealing with her issues."</p><p>"Of course," Marinette said, looking at the bundle and wondering what it would mean for the class not to have Chloé for the beginning of the year. Certainly less akuma, the negatively-charged butterflies Paris’s least-favorite supervillain used to recruit mostly-unwilling champions, unless Lila decided to step up and fill the void Chloé's absence would leave. Marinette chased both thoughts from her mind as future concerns, taking the bundle of work and heading to the exit.</p><p>"Are those for Chloé?" Sabrina asked her, falling into step at her side. Marinette nodded. Sabrina brightened considerably. "That's good. It means she's alive."</p><p>"Alive?" Marinette squeaked, stopping. "Why would anyone think she's dead?"</p><p>"I used to be able to set my watch by Chloé's posts to, well, everywhere. She had a selfie routine that she followed regularly. But during the summer, after she left for a trip in July, there's been no activity at all. She hasn't been in the class chat, either. Social media was Chloé's way of making sure the world remembered she existed. She wouldn't just <em>stop</em> without a really good reason."</p><p>Marinette spun back through her memory, realizing she had noticed when Chloé had stopped posting, but had assumed Chloé had done something heinous enough that she'd been grounded from her electronics for the summer and moved on.</p><p>"I hadn't noticed," Marinette said. "I mean, I noticed, but I assumed Chloé had just lost her phone or had it taken away from her."</p><p>Marinette had never followed up on that thought, though, because Hawkmoth seemed to know that school was on break right after that and sent akuma at nearly all hours of the day. It was a good thing that there were so many sweets that were just imperfect enough that they weren't going to get sold that Marinette could take with her to keep Tikki, the kwami that helped her fight the seemingly-endless parade of akuma, in enough sugar.</p><p>"It must be something serious," Sabrina insisted. "I haven't heard anything from Chloé directly since then. I think she's even shutting Adrien out. Tell me—us whatever you find out, please."</p><p>Marinette nodded. "If I see her, I'll ask."</p><p>"Thank you, Marinette. We…I miss her a lot."</p><p>Another possible benefit to Chloé's absence would be the kinder, gentler Sabrina that happened when she wasn't trying to get Chloé's approval, Marinette's brain reminded her. She brushed that thought away irritably as she resumed her walk toward the hotel. If something <em>had</em> happened to Chloé, it would be rude, at the very least, for Marinette to take schadenfreude in it.</p><p>Chloé had been getting…well, better was a relative term, but Marinette could truthfully say that Chloé was <em>nicer</em> to the people around her. It didn't necessarily stick all the time, but even one less akuma attack every week helped make things easier for everyone. It had been approximately the same difficulty as pulling teeth, though, when Chloé was being stubborn and insisting she was entirely in the right for what had happened that she wanted to complain about in the group chat.</p><p>She'd been gone from everywhere on social media for months, and Marinette hadn’t noticed. She'd assumed Chloé had been somewhere without signal for August holiday and hadn't earned back her phone privileges yet from her parents (because they were trying to enforce consequences, for however long that lasted before one of them would inevitably give in. Marinette had already picked out what profanity-laden rant she would deploy if Chloé ever decided to cut ties and her parents wouldn't respect that boundary). She hadn't actually checked on Chloé or tried to get in contact. Someone sensible, if they knew everything, would tell her that it wasn't her fault, the stress of being Ladybug, the Hero of Paris, helping out at the bakery so much, and trying to refine her clothing and accessory designs so they could be entered in a few contests had pushed a lot of things to the side.</p><p>Chloé had been trying to put in an effort to win Marinette's friendship, and Marinette had failed her first real test of reciprocating it.</p><p>Walking into the hotel, Marinette spotted Chloé's butler almost immediately and waved to get his attention.</p><p>"Hello, Mlle. Dupain-Cheng," he said. "Can I help you with something?" </p><p>"Is Chloé available? I have some schoolwork I need to deliver to her."</p><p>"Mlle. Bourgeois is not taking visitors for the foreseeable future, Mlle. Dupain-Cheng. If you leave the schoolwork with me, I will make sure she receives it."</p><p>"Of course, but first, I just walked here from school. Is there a bathroom nearby I can use?"</p><p>The butler pointed Marinette in the direction of guest facilities. Marinette thanked him and headed in that direction. As she was approaching, she checked to make sure she wasn't being watched, then walked right past the bathrooms into the lift. She'd been in and around Chloé's suite enough times as Ladybug that she could probably navigate there by instinct.</p><p>Stepping off on the correct floor, Marinette walked confidently to Chloé's door, like she belonged there. Many of the staff took notice of her, but seeing the pile of schoolwork in her hand, they let her be. Actually, they all seemed to smile really brightly at seeing her and the schoolwork, now that she thought about it.</p><p>Marinette tried the door to Chloé's room and found it unlocked, so she slipped inside. The room itself was dark, but for a few glowing screens, so it took her eyes a little while to adjust. As somewhat formless blobs resolved into more definite shapes, Marinette stifled an audible gasp at what she saw. Chloé's room had been transformed from a place where a teenager might hang out, put posters of cute models on her walls, and play Ladybug and Chat Noir with her friends to a miniature hospital room. She didn't know all the details about the equipment that surrounded Chloé's bed, but there was a lot of it, including what looked like a wheelchair parked close to the bed. The bed itself had been set so Chloé was sitting up, covered by the blankets.</p><p>"Why does everyone insist on leaving my door unlocked?" Chloé grumbled, turning her head to see who has come in. Upon recognizing Marinette, her face contorted into a look of pure fury.</p><p>"Hi, Chloé," Marinette said weakly. "Mme. Bustier sent me with your home—"</p><p>"<strong>GET OUT!</strong>" Chloé roared.</p><p>Marinette steeled herself to endure one of Chloé's rages. There were times where she had to wait for Chloé to exhaust herself before she could get her to talk (or to see reason), so she was used to getting shouted at as a way for Chloé to say hello. Shortly, Mayor Bourgeois arrived into Chloé's room.</p><p>"Daddy, get her <em>out</em> of here! She's <em>ruining</em> everything!"</p><p>"Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, in the hallway, please," the Mayor said, his tone in the rarely-used register that meant he wasn’t asking. He held the door for Marinette to go through.</p><p>"And <em>lock it</em> this time!" Chloé shouted angrily as Mayor Bourgeois closed the door.</p><p>"What are you doing here?" he asked Marinette as he shepherded her down the hallway back toward the lifts.</p><p>"I-I was delivering her homework from school," Marinette said, indicating her packet.</p><p>"Oh. Thank you," Mayor Bourgeois said after a beat. "I'll take those and deliver them to her. It's been…trying, and I fear we've lost track of time. I should have been there to pick it up myself."</p><p>"Mayor Bourgeois, what happened to Chloé? Is she all right?"</p><p>The Mayor's face twisted in grief and uncertainty before finally settling back into a calmer state. "No, Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, Chloé is not all right. Did you know where we were going for our vacation?" Marinette shook her head. "Audrey had booked us a retreat at riding stable. She loves horses and hoped that Chloé would share that love, and we could all bond some over riding on the trails. Chloé, well, in so many ways she's Audrey's daughter, and that sometimes means she wants to do things because other people have told her she can't. There was one trail at the retreat that was entirely closed off to her, as a beginning rider, but Chloé…"</p><p>"She thought it was a suggestion, instead of a requirement," Marinette finished. "She's done that more than a few times in class as well."</p><p>Mayor Bourgeois nodded. "Audrey and I wanted to raise an independent child with her own ambitions." He took in a deep breath. "Chloé went exploring on the trail. She lost control of the horse, and it threw her. The impact broke several bones in her neck and back." He drew in a shaky breath. "She's paralyzed from the neck down."</p><p>Marinette dropped the classwork to the floor, stunned. "Will Chloé get better?" she whispered.</p><p>"We don't know," Mayor Bourgeois said, kneeling to pick up the packet. "We're doing what the doctors are recommending, including physical therapy, but they warned us that there was a high likelihood that this is what Chloé could expect to be for the rest of her life. We're lucky that Chloé is still alive, but she's still processing."</p><p>This explained so much, Marinette thought. Chloé's disappearance from social media, cutting off contact with everyone, even her anger at seeing Marinette in the room. Chloé didn't want anyone to see her.</p><p>"You understand now why Chloé hasn't wanted to talk to anyone," Mayor Bourgeois said, standing up, the classwork packet in his hands. "And until she's ready to do that, I would like you to keep what you know a secret."</p><p>"Her friends and classmates would like to know what happened," Marinette replied. "Some of them have been worried she's dead and nobody has bothered to tell them," she added, recalling her earlier conversation with Sabrina.</p><p>"I asked your teacher to say that Chloé wouldn't be attending school this year. That should have been enough to dispel wild rumors."</p><p>"Mme. Bustier's not really…good at squashing rumors. Or, for that matter, outright lies," Marinette said, thinking about how easily Lila continued to get everyone to believe her campaign of perpetual falsehoods. "Seeing and hearing Chloé at school would be the easiest way of keeping things from getting any more out of hand than they already are."</p><p>"We will keep that in mind, of course," Mayor Bourgeois said, "but much of this will still depend on whether Chloé is interested in seeing anyone at all, and whether she wants to learn how to get around in her wheelchair."</p><p>"If she changes her mind, will you please let me know? Or if she wants to see someone, even if she doesn't change her mind."</p><p>Mayor Bourgeois nodded. "Thank you for taking the time to deliver Chloé's homework to her," he said. "Even if she's not in a mood to appreciate it, Audrey and I do. Good day, Mlle. Dupain-Cheng." Mayor Bourgeois turned back toward Chloé's room, opening the door and closing it behind him.</p><p>Marinette returned to the bakery, responding to Sabrina's many anxious messages that Chloé was alive, even if she wasn't going to give any more details than that right now, and that she hoped Chloé would return to school soon. Her own homework still needed to be done in time for class tomorrow, or, more likely, in time for tonight's akuma, which would cut her study period short and leave her too exhausted to do anything more than sleep when she returned. At a certain point, Ladybug had decided that if she or her heroic partner ever learned Hawkmoth's identity and had the opportunity, she would believe whatever excuse Chat Noir came up with for "accidentally" hitting Hawkmoth with a face-melting Cataclysm as repayment for all of her sleep-deprived nights. Before she set to her homework, Marinette checked to make sure she would receive an alert if Chloé posted anything to her social media accounts. </p><p>The next week, Marinette was asked to deliver a new packet of homework to Chloé. Mayor Bourgeois met her in the lobby of the hotel and took it from her there, telling her that Chloé had not changed her mind about seeing anyone. Her social media remained silent. Hawkmoth continued to steal away any hope Marinette had of getting sufficient sleep, and it became a routine. Occasionally, on the way back from fighting an akuma, Ladybug would swing by Chloé's window, but it remained closed and shuttered, denying her the possibility of getting Chloé to open up to her favorite hero, even if she wouldn't open up to her classmate. She'd expected to have to deal with fallout from Chloé causing an akuma attack on one of her carers by lashing out at them, and thus get the opportunity to talk, but the hotel remained remarkably free of purple butterflies. Marinette wondered if Hawkmoth knew what was happening, and had finally encountered a situation that even he wasn't willing to try and akumatize.</p><p>One week, after dropping off the homework, Mayor Bourgeois smiled at her. "Chloé wants to see you tomorrow, after school," he said. "I think she's finally starting to come around to the idea that she can't hide forever."</p><p>"I'll be there," Marinette assured him. "Thank you for telling me."</p><p>Marinette spent the rest of the night trying to design the a sympathy card for Chloé that she wouldn't immediately hate, declare "tacky," and demand that it be taken out of her sight immediately. Marinette was in preliminary sketches when Hawkmoth decided that night was a night where he was going to akumatize all of his regulars in sequence and force Ladybug and Chat Noir to fight all of them before they could fall into bed. Marinette spent the next day frantically getting the next class's work done in the class before it so that she could at least attempt to turn things in on time, before sprinting out at the end of the day to see Chloé before she changed her mind about the whole thing. She took a moment outside of Chloé's door to compose herself before knocking. Mayor Bourgeois opened the door for her and exited, closing the door behind him.</p><p>Chloé's room was lit, this time, but it had remained mostly unchanged from the last time Marinette had seen it. So, it seemed, had Chloé.</p><p>"Dupain-Cheng," Chloé said.</p><p>"Hello, Chloé," Marinette said. "I tried to make you a card last night, but I fell asleep while I was sketching it out, and—"</p><p>"Ugh," Chloé said, rolling her eyes. "I'm sure it would have been pink and full of hearts and stuffed animals and sentimental crap. If I want someone to tell me everything was going to be fine, or that I was going to get better, I'll call Daddy."</p><p>"I wanted to cheer you up," Marinette said. "The class is worried about you, you know."</p><p>Chloé laughed sharply. "No you don't, Dupain-Cheng," she said. "Stop telling me what you think I want to hear. If I wanted that, I would have asked Bri over, not you."</p><p>"What do you want, then?" Marinette said snappishly.</p><p>"The truth, without sugar, without 'nice', without bullshit, and especially without <em>pity</em>," Chloé said. "You might be the only person in the class who can do that."</p><p>Marinette blinked. "Why do you think that?" she asked.</p><p>"Because you hate me enough to tell me the truth," Chloé said quietly.</p><p>Marinette took a step back, surprised. "Why do you think I hate you?"</p><p>Chloé turned her head to stare at Marinette with a "don't bullshit me" look, before rolling it back to looking ahead. "Because I'm a pretty, petty, rich, bitch and I won't apologize for any of it," she said. "Class is probably going a lot more smoothly for everyone now that I'm not there."</p><p>Marinette laughed. "Not really," she said, shaking her head. "Apparently, every class needs a pretty, petty, rich, bitch, because Lila picked up where you left off and has somehow managed to be more obnoxious about everything than you ever were." Realizing what she was saying, Marinette tried to think of something better to talk about and blanked. "Wow, that was really mean of me," she admitted. "I said the thing I should have been thinking and thought the thing I should have said."</p><p>Chloé smiled. "As I was saying, I wanted you to talk to, instead of Bri, because you have such a <em>charming</em> tendency to tell the truth to the people you dislike. Nothing hurts more, right? So tell me this, Dupain-Cheng: why are <em>you</em> here?"</p><p>"I wanted to make sure you were okay," Marinette said.</p><p>"Wrong answer," Chloé said, turning away. "You had plenty of opportunities to do that before school started. Even Alya, who would happily watch me drown and post it all over the Ladyblog, wondered where I had gone over the summer. If you're going to lie to me, Dupain-Cheng, we're done."</p><p>"It's not a lie," Marinette said, but Chloé ignored her. After several minutes of silence, Marinette pulled out her homework and began working on it, trying to fill the silence with the sounds of her thought processes and entice Chloé back into a conversation. After Marinette had spent some amount of time talking to the silent room, Mayor Bourgeois poked his head back in.</p><p>"Anything that I can get either of you?" he asked.</p><p>"Actually, Dupain-Cheng was just leaving," Chloé said. "Try again next time," she said, making sure to look straight at Marinette.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Duty</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Next time" turned out to be in a week, when Marinette dropped off the next homework packet. "Why are you here, Dupain-Cheng?" Chloé asked, as soon as Marinette had set down the homework in the place where Chloé had told her to.</p>
<p>"Because I'm the class rep, and it's my duty," Marinette said, having had some time to think about the question in the intervening week.</p>
<p>"Still wrong, but you're closer than you were before," Chloé said. Marinette glared at her, but Chloé didn't seem bothered by it. "For someone who hates lies, you're pretty good at telling them," she added.</p>
<p>"Well, if you know so much, then, Chloé, why don't you tell me why I'm here?" Marinette snapped.</p>
<p>"You won't like it," Chloé warned her. "You won't believe me."</p>
<p>"Try me."</p>
<p>"Guilt," Chloé said, matter-of-factually.</p>
<p>"<em>Excuse you?</em>"</p>
<p>"Told you."</p>
<p>"What am I feeling guilty about?"</p>
<p>"That one of your classmates has been paralyzed for months and you didn't care enough to find this out, except by accident," Chloé said.</p>
<p>Marinette stopped. Chloé wasn't <em>wrong</em>, but Marinette had made what she thought were logical conclusions about the situation and hadn't felt like it needed further investigation, even as the time dragged on. Even though she'd been thinking at the time about how maybe, with more effort on Chloé's part, there was the possibility that the two of them might become friends, right before the accident. Marinette hadn't really thought too hard about the possibility that <em>she</em> might have to make more effort as well. </p>
<p>"There! <em>That</em> is what I don't want, Dupain-Cheng," Chloé snarled. "You're feeling sorry for yourself. It's written all over your face. Everyone who starts feeling sorry for themselves ends up feeling sorry for <em>me</em> instead, and I can't <em>stand</em> it."</p>
<p>"You're right, Chloé," Marinette said quietly. "When you decide to forgive me for pitying you, call." Marinette opened the door to Chloé's room, closed it carefully behind her, and ran for the lift, hoping she could make it home before she collapsed into a crying ball. Hawkmoth had other plans for her, however, and instead of having a good cry when she needed it, Ladybug had a convenient akuma to take out her frustration on. Chat Noir even commented that she was pretty violent in dispatching the akuma.</p>
<p>"It's because I'm a terrible friend," she said, before swinging away with her earrings chirping the need to find somewhere safe to transform. Chat left her several sympathetic messages and an invitation to talk, which was sweet of him, but Chloé was right. Marinette might have started everything out of a sense of duty, but once she'd learned the whole truth, she'd blamed herself for not noticing more than she had been willing to sit with Chloé and be there for her. And Chloé had seen right through her, probably like she had with anyone else that had been taking care of her, and had been enough of a bitch to tell her the truth, to her face.</p>
<p>Angrily, Marinette dialed the hotel and asked to be put on with Chloé.</p>
<p>"Why me?" she asked.</p>
<p>"I told you: you hate me enough to tell me the truth," Chloé told her calmly. "But you hate yourself more than you hate me. You can't be perfect, Dupain-Cheng, but if anyone could through grit, hard work, and self-loathing, you'd figure out how."</p>
<p>Marinette could only blow a long sigh of frustration in response.</p>
<p>"Don't be late next week, Dupain-Cheng," Chloé said and hung up.</p>
<p>By the time the next packet was ready, Marinette had worked out a plan on how to be more helpful to Chloé, and Ladybug had used several akuma as punching and kicking bags to burn off any lingering resentment at Chloé for being more correct than she had any right to be, to Chat Noir's continued concerned noises about the sudden violent streak present in his Lady.</p>
<p>"Bourgeois," Marinette said, acknowledging Chloé with a nod as she set the homework packet down in its appointed spot.</p>
<p>"Dupain-Cheng," Chloé responded equally coolly.</p>
<p>"This is your last chance to say you don't want my help," Marinette said. "Once we start, you don't get to back out until you're back in class. My time is valuable, and could be better spent doing something other than shuttling you homework every week. Deal?"</p>
<p>Chloé smiled. "Deal. Do your worst, Dupain-Cheng."</p>
<p>Marinette headed over to Chloé's laptop and started tapping keys and clicking.</p>
<p>"Hey!" Chloé squawked. "That's still mine!"</p>
<p>Marinette pretended not to hear. When she was finished, she spun the laptop around to Chloé, where a word processor was open with a blinking cursor.</p>
<p>"Follow the bouncing ball, Chloé," Marinette said, her words appearing on the screen a little while after she had said them. "New paragraph. Since your computer is reasonably new comma, it's got voice dictation built in to the operating system period. New paragraph."</p>
<p>"You sound ridiculous, Dupain-Cheng," Chloé said. "You're not seriously suggesting that I talk to my computer all the time."</p>
<p>"Go after ridiculous. Comma. Go after time. Period. New paragraph. Better talk to the computer—correct carrot—computer and do your homework than make someone else type for you period. You can also use voice commands to control the computer comma, although it is likely going to be tricky if you want to play action games period. Stop listening."</p>
<p>Chloé glowered. "<em>I'll</em> sound ridiculous if that's how I have to talk to my computer to get anything done."</p>
<p>"Well, your options are a bit limited, and besides, you're used to talking to your phone to get it to do things, right? Well, now you'll have to have it listening for you, too. I used to think you just liked to hear yourself talk. Now, you have an excuse."</p>
<p>"Tell me what you really think, Dupain-Cheng," Chloé retorted. "And next time, ask before you touch other people's stuff. Didn't you learn that when you were small?"</p>
<p>"If I had asked, would you have let me?"</p>
<p>"No."</p>
<p>"Exactly. I can't believe I'm saying this, but when you decide you want to be less stubborn, I'll be nicer."</p>
<p>Chloé's retort died on her lips before she burst out laughing. </p>
<p>"How do you like being the mean, bitchy one for a change?" she teased.</p>
<p>"It has its perks," Marinette replied. "Now, do you want my help to figure out how to use your assistive features, or should I come back next week when you've had a week's worth of frustration to make you ready to learn?"</p>
<p>"That's…where did you learn how to threaten people like that, Dupain-Cheng?" Chloé said, her eyebrows knitting in confusion.</p>
<p>Marinette put on her most innocent look and busied herself with her phone, checking the time. Sabine Dupain-Cheng always had advice to give about any situation Marinette found herself in. Marinette had waged a hard-fought campaign in her younger years to get Sabine to ask if Marinette wanted any help or advice before giving it, and while Sabine had never stopped <em>having</em> an opinion about everything, the two had figured out a code between them for Sabine to indicate how strongly she felt Marinette should consult with her about the situation at hand. "Frustration" was one of Sabine's indicators that she knew how to make something work and Marinette should just ask her instead of trying to figure it out. This rarely happened when Marinette was younger, but having to admit that her mother was right about something was far worse than going to her for advice in the first place.</p>
<p>"You don't fool me," Chloé said after Marinette finished checking the time. "Tell me how this works, so I can do my homework rather than scrambling to learn how to control the computer <em>and</em> do my homework after you have to leave 'unexpectedly.' "</p>
<p>"I knew you would come around to my point of view, Chloé," Marinette said. "Honestly, I expected you to screech at me to get out, only to find that you had to call me about doing anything by voice at all."</p>
<p>Chloé snorted. "Like I would give you that satisfaction."</p>
<p>Marinette shrugged. "So, where should we start?"</p>
<hr/>
<p>Marinette's phone buzzed the next morning, as she rolled out of bed.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>How the duck do you get vice command to ducking tile what you actively said?</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette puzzled over the message for a moment before substituting the correct words for the ones that had been autocorrected.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>If you want the computer to type what you’re actually saying, you'll have to train it a bit. The more it gets to hear you talk, the better predictions it has about your voice. What are you doing up this early?</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette checked to make sure she had enough time for a quick breakfast before getting ready for school.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Trying to get my homework done, blockhead. But this **** computer can't type two words without getting one wrong.</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette shook her head.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Are you trying to shout at it from across the room?</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette continued to get ready, but the lack of immediate response suggested that was, indeed, what Chloé was trying to do, so it wasn't surprising to Marinette that her results were mixed. Since Chloé hadn't responded yet, Marinette sent her next message.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Do you think you could convince Mayor Bourgeois to buy you a good-quality wireless microphone so that you can use it better?</p>
</blockquote><p>The response to that message came very quickly.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Just asked for it. So glad you've caught up.</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette snickered.</p>
<p>"Sure, Chloé. Whatever," she said to the empty room. Looking out at the bakery, she took a couple of the day-old pastries that were discounted heavily and packed them in a second lunch sack. Chloé could probably use something sweet to counteract how the day had started for her, and she would need a pair of hands to help her set the microphone up properly so that she could use it. It was amazing how many things that were supposedly meant for ease of access still needed someone able-bodied to set them up before they could be used.</p>
<p>Class was relatively uneventful, aside from Sabrina's near-constant fretting between classes about whether Chloé truly was okay, because she hadn't asked her over in months. Marinette did her best to reassure Sabrina about what she could, but Sabrina still looked at her like she couldn't believe that Marinette wanted to hang out with Chloé and that Chloé was okay with this. </p>
<p>Marinette knocked and opened the door to Chloé's room. Chloé had gotten more than a few microphones, it looked like, which was absolutely peak Chloé. If she needed one good-quality thing, she'd make sure she got ten of the best quality just to show off.</p>
<p>"Find one you like?" Marinette asked. </p>
<p>"Yes," Chloé said, without indicating which one it was.</p>
<p>"Brought you something from the bakery," Marinette said, when it was clear Chloé wasn't going to volunteer any more information. "Do you want me to feed it to you, or leave it here so you can eat it later?"</p>
<p>"Later," Chloé said, flicking her eyes over to the table she wanted Marinette to set the bag on. Marinette dropped the bag on the table and then turned back to Chloé. </p>
<p>"Have you considered letting other people in here? Or possibly going out to see your friends? Sabrina especially. She's worried about you, Chloé, and nothing short of seeing you is going to stop her from worrying," Marinette said.</p>
<p>"No." Chloé said. "I'm not going out like this."</p>
<p>"Like this?" Marinette asked.</p>
<p>"Yeah," Chloé said. "Why would I want anyone to see me stuck in a bed? I just have to try harder at my physical therapy, and then everyone will get to see me just as good as I was before."</p>
<p>"Chloé, you broke your spinal cord. That's not something where you can snap your fingers and everything will be as it was before."</p>
<p>"<em>I know that, Dupain-Cheng</em>," Chloe snarled. "But my physical therapists have said I have a chance of being able to walk again, so I'm just going to wait until I can do that again." </p>
<p>Marinette frowned. "Did they say how likely it was that you would be able to walk again?"</p>
<p>"Why do you care about the percentages, Dupain-Cheng? There's a <em>chance</em>, and that's enough. I'm going to beat the odds."</p>
<p>With that phrasing, Marinette knew it wasn't a high chance. Echoes of several earlier conversations she'd had with Adrien about his father surfaced, reminding her that sometimes, people would prefer to cling to the possibility of a miracle than to admit and work toward making the best of the terrible situation they are in.</p>
<p>"How about social media? You've always been the Selfie Queen, so I'm pretty sure we could take something and crop it so that your followers won't know that anything's wrong."</p>
<p>Chloé glared at Marinette. "If you were Adrien, and you said that, I might believe you. You, Dupain-Cheng, are a <em>klutz</em>, and I don't want you touching my phone. Or my computer."</p>
<p>"If you wanted, you could probably <em>get</em> Adrien in here to help you take a selfie or two. Or order Sabrina around so you two could both be in the shot."</p>
<p>"<em>No</em>!" Chloé shouted. "I'm not letting anyone see me while I'm weak!"</p>
<p>Marinette stepped back from Chloé, surprised by her vehemence. "Weak?" she asked.</p>
<p>Chloé huffed and turned her head away. "Thank you for the pastries, Dupain-Cheng. And for your help with getting voice commands set up. I'm going to take a nap."</p>
<p>Recognizing the dismissal for what it was, Marinette nodded and quietly slipped out of the room, closing the door behind her. Best to stop while she was ahead, and with Chloé having said thank you, even if Marinette wasn’t sure she had actually meant them.</p>
<p>"What the fuck, Chloé?" she muttered quietly to herself, before heading back to the lift. When the car arrived for her, Mayor Bourgeois stepped off. </p>
<p>"Hello, Mlle. Dupain-Cheng!" he said, a smile on his face. </p>
<p>"Hello, Mayor Bourgeois."</p>
<p>"How is my darling girl doing?"</p>
<p>"She's having a bad day. I haven't made it any better, even though I tried. I'm sorry, Mayor Bourgeois." Marinette said, and pressed the button again to summon a new car.</p>
<p>"Don't be. Chloé has always been…difficult, but she's strong and she'll find a way though."</p>
<p>"Have you talked to her about the odds of a full recovery?" Marinette asked.</p>
<p>"Many times," the mayor said. "Her therapists have, as well, but Chloé's not ready to accept it, yet. You're helping, Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, even if it doesn't seem like it right now." He smiled at her as the next car arrived. </p>
<p>Marinette stepped into the empty car and pressed the button for the lobby. It certainly didn't feel like helping when you were trying to cheer someone up and all you did was make them more aggravated at everything.</p>
<p>Almost as soon as she had returned to the bakery and started on her homework, Hawkmoth sent an akuma out that needed dealing with. After everything had been restored, Ladybug sighed.</p>
<p>"Penny for your thoughts, my Lady?"</p>
<p>"I'm afraid not, Chat."</p>
<p>"You can trust me."</p>
<p>"I made a promise not to say anything."</p>
<p>"I didn't know that you were adding therapist to your list of ever-growing accomplishments," Chat quipped.</p>
<p>The light bulb went on in Ladybug's head.</p>
<p>"Thanks, Chat," she said, smiling at him. "I'm still not going to tell you anything, but you've at least given me an idea of something that might help." </p>
<p>"Always my pleasure, my Lady," he said, before both his ring and her earrings let them know they had to part ways or risk learning each other’s identities. For as much as Chat Noir was more than willing to let that happen, she knew what kind of disaster that would bring on top of everything else.</p>
<p>It would be a few days before Marinette would need to deliver another homework packet for Chloé. As much as it pained her to leave something unfinished like this, she understood now that she was going to have to work on Chloé's schedule and at Chloé's comfort level. Taking in a deep breath and letting it out to try and calm her own anxieties (What if she had ruined any possible friendship that might have been burgeoning? What if Chloé didn't want to see her any more? What if Chloé never got better and lived out the rest of her life in that room, cut off from all the people who cared about her, because of trying to push her too hard?), Marinette returned to focusing on her homework.</p>
<p>Before she turned in that night, her phone buzzed with a new message from Chloé.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Daddy says I should apologize to you for being too harsh when you were trying to be helpful. Maybe when you come on Monday with more homework, I'll actually feel like doing it.</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette breathed a sign of relief. She hadn't ruined anything yet.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Despair</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Things continued in a push-pull manner for several weeks afterward. Marinette kept bringing homework, stories and pastries, Chloé continued to insist that she would be ready to see everyone when she was fully healed and through her therapy. Marinette brought pictures from the class, videos recorded to make sure that she was feeling okay, cards that had somehow been designed and passed around in class, now that everyone knew that she was at home resting from an unspecified injury and/or illness. Chloé resisted them all, to greater and lesser degrees, insisting that the only way she was going to be seen was when she could walk into class and take her seat among them again, and no sooner.</p>
<p>It finally came to a head one week when Marinette stopped by with homework, stories, and day-old pastries, and Chloé barely acknowledged her presence. Admittedly, this wasn't a new situation for Marinette, given how often she'd been alternatingly Chloé's favorite target and the recipient of the silent treatment in some attempt to get her to go away and no longer bother Chloé with her mere presence. But instead of demanding she disappear, apologize for some imagined slight, or otherwise try to pick a fight with Marinette so she could laugh at her about it later, Chloé barely acknowledged Marinette by looking at her before returning her gaze out the window.</p>
<p>"I'm not going to get better, am I?" Chloé asked quietly. "I'm going to have to live with this for the rest of my life."</p>
<p>Marinette set the homework and the pastries aside, and went to sit in the chair next to Chloé's bed.</p>
<p>"Nothing's certain," Marinette started.</p>
<p>"Don't bullshit me, Dupain-Cheng," Chloé said sternly. "You agreed you wouldn't."</p>
<p>"Nothing's certain," Marinette repeated. "I haven't talked to your physical therapists, but what research I did about what happened suggested that you weren't going to walk immediately. And might not walk at all any more." </p>
<p>Chloé stayed silent for well past when it would have qualified as uncomfortable.</p>
<p>"Thank you," she finally said.</p>
<p>"For what?"</p>
<p>"Not telling me."</p>
<p>"You wouldn't have listened to me, anyway."</p>
<p>Chloé laughed. "You're right. I wouldn't have." She sighed. "What do I do now?"</p>
<p>"Homework?" Marinette suggested. "I've got a new batch for you."</p>
<p>Chloé rolled her eyes at the new pile of homework Marinette showed her and snapped a couple of commands at her laptop. "Can't they just send these by e-mail?" she grumbled. "It would be easier for me if they just came as an attachment."</p>
<p>"It would," Marinette said, nodding and keeping her expression neutral. "Maybe if you sent an e-mail or had a chat with someone from the school, you could get them to send you homework by e-mail."</p>
<p>Chloé had half of a retort out of her mouth before she realized what Marinette was trying to get her to do. "Sneaky, Dupain-Cheng," Chloé said, smiling.</p>
<p>Marinette smiled innocently before exaggeratedly snapping her fingers. "I almost had you there, Chloé, but you were too smart for me."</p>
<p>"Flattery suits you so well," Chloé said in between bouts of laughter.</p>
<p>"Does that mean if I bat my eyelashes at you, you'll start posting to your social media accounts again?" Marinette asked, fluttering her eyes at Chloé in what she hoped was sufficiently over-the-top to get her tone across.</p>
<p>Chloé stared at Marinette for a few seconds, before abruptly turning her head away. "Sure," she said, quiet again.</p>
<p>Marinette blinked, confused by the abrupt attitude shift. "Which one first?" she said, deciding to press her advantage and prevent Chloé from sliding back into the mood she was in when Marinette first entered.</p>
<p>"I'll send the e-mail about homework first," Chloé replied. "I should do it while you're here, so that way, when autocarrot decides it wants to substitute every word except the one I'm saying, you can help me get it corrected before it goes out."</p>
<p>Chloé signed in to her school e-mail and dictated a message requesting (demanding, Marinette thought to herself, both pleased and annoyed that Chloé seemed to be taking her usual attitude toward others in the e-mail) that she receive her homework packets as e-mail attachments and asking for recordings of the lectures to be made available and accessible for her, so that she could keep up with her studies.</p>
<p>"I'm proud of you," Marinette said, when Chloé had sent the message.</p>
<p>"Proud of me? Ridiculous," Chloé said.</p>
<p>"That's the first e-mail you've sent in months, Chloé," Marinette said. "It feels like you're getting ready to come out of your shell."</p>
<p>Chloé snorted. "If all you have to contribute to this is being maudlin and utterly ridiculous, Dupain-Cheng, you can go, then. I have homework to do."</p>
<p>"Well, if it's suddenly become that important to you, don't let me stand in your way," Marinette said, good-naturedly. Frowning for a moment as an idea crossed her mind, she added, "Should I come next week, even if you're getting all your homework by e-mail?"</p>
<p>Chloé looked at Marinette searchingly, as if she were trying to figure out the answer to a question Marinette hadn't realized she'd asked.</p>
<p>"Yes," Chloé said, nodding sharply. "Don't be late."</p>
<hr/>
<p>Chloé still hadn't posted anything to social media by the time the next week rolled around. Still, Marinette realized as she came in to listen to Chloé finishing up either an e-mail or an assignment, her dictation skills and control had improved significantly. Chloé seemed to be more accepting of some things, but there were a lot <em>more</em> things she was going to have to accept if she was going to do anything other than sit around all day. The thought jumped into another thought of how much stress all of the hotel staff must be under by being stuck in the same building as Chloé all day. Marinette chided herself for thinking negatively of Chloé, even as another part of her brain started listing all the examples it had (and it was a long list) of how Chloé's behavior when she wasn't getting her way exactly had resulted in terrible consequences for everyone around her.</p>
<p>"Hey, Chloé," Marinette said, after Chloé told the computer to stop listening to her. "The trees are beautiful this time of year. Did you want to go out into the park?"</p>
<p>Chloé glared at Marinette, expecting her to come to the self-evident conclusion that the paralyzed girl wouldn't be <em>going</em> anywhere. Marinette pretended not to notice.</p>
<p>"You've got everything you need for it," Marinette said, indicating the chair next to her bed with her head.</p>
<p>"Are you <em>volunteering</em> to pick me up, put me in my wheelchair, and wheel me all the way down to the park and back?" Chloé said venomously. "Because that sounds suspiciously like <em>pity</em>, Dupain-Cheng."</p>
<p>"This," Marinette said evenly, pointing to the wheelchair, "is not a pushing wheelchair, so save whatever rant you were going to throw at me. I'll help you get into it, sure, but after that, you'll have to figure out how to drive it."</p>
<p>"Drive it?" Chloé said. "That's ridiculous. I can't use…my…" Chloe gritted her teeth and looked away from Marinette, determined not to let Marinette have the satisfaction of hearing her admit to it. She spent several minutes looking away from Marinette. Marinette suspected there were tears streaming freely down her face, but she knew Chloé would be damned before she let Marinette see her cry.</p>
<p>"Drive it," Marinette said firmly, when Chloé turned back to see her, choosing not to remark on the puffiness in Chloé's eyes. "This chair's been outfitted with a sip-and-puff control, so you can drive it with nothing more than your mouth."</p>
<p>Chloé looked confused. "Now that I think about it," Marinette continued, "the research I did said that kind of control could be used on other things, too, like being able to type letters on a keyboard. Although, you might not need that, with how good you've been getting at your dictation."</p>
<p>"And you know everything now about me, Dupain-Cheng?" Chloé said angrily.</p>
<p>"No," Marinette snapped, aggravated at how Chloé was trying to make everything about herself even more than usual, "but I did expect someone to try and teach you about these things. Did they, or were you wallowing in self-pity so much that you didn't pay any attention to them?"</p>
<p>Chloé's eyes blazed, but instead of her usual full-volume dismissal, she said nothing.</p>
<p>"Chloé, I'm sorry. That was rude of me." Marinette said immediately.</p>
<p>"Yes it was," Chloé said, the heat dissipating out of her voice. "But you're not wrong," she added. "And I might have needed to hear that."</p>
<p>"<em>Has</em> anyone tried to teach you how to drive your chair?" Marinette said.</p>
<p>"No," Chloé said, after a long pause. "I expected to walk again, so why should I learn how to do something I wouldn't need in a little while?"</p>
<p>"Ah," Marinette said. Chloé was certainly capable of that kind of self-deception, given how long she'd thought of herself as the queen bee of the class. At the same time, Marinette understood she would resist the idea of never being able to use a large part of her body again just as fiercely as Chloé did.</p>
<p>"Okay," Marinette said, thinking carefully. "Should we schedule you a time to get yourself calibrated?"</p>
<p>Chloé seemed to be thinking for a very long time before finally sighing. "Yeah. I'll ask Jean-Baptiste to do it."</p>
<p>Marinette nodded. "When would you like to do that?" she asked.</p>
<p>Chloé's eyes narrowed at Marinette, recognizing the unstated meaning of the question, before rolling her eyes and dictating a text to the butler whose name she seemed perennially unable to get consistently, much less correctly.</p>
<p>"Satisfied?" Chloé said, challenging Marinette to say anything contrary. Marinette waited, cocking her head and listening. When an answering text message chime came through, Marinette smiled and nodded.</p>
<p>"How about some homework?" Marinette said, turning up the wattage on her smile.</p>
<p>"Already finished," Chloé said, smiling.</p>
<p>"Did <em>you</em> do any of it, or did you forward it all on to Sabrina and tell her to do it?"</p>
<p>Chloé barked a laugh. "What sort of person do you think I am, Dupain-Cheng?"</p>
<p>Marinette had several responses bolt through her brain, but thankfully, they all stopped before they reached her mouth, and Marinette hoped they weren't showing on her face, either. It had been an open secret among the class, and likely the teachers, that the bulk of any assignment was done by Sabrina twice, the better copy for Chloé, the worse for herself, and that all Chloé ever did was copy the answers into her own hand. At least, for those assignments that required handwriting.</p>
<p>"You usually work with Sabrina," Marinette said, finding the diplomatic answer she desperately sought, "so I wondered if you were collaborating with her over e-mail, now that you've started using it again."</p>
<p>Chloé's lips set in a firm line, suggesting Marinette had failed her diplomacy roll all the same, before turning her head away. "I haven't talked to Sabrina," she said quietly. "I don't know what she'll think."</p>
<p>"About what?"</p>
<p>Chloé sighed. "Bri told me to be careful. She said that horses bit, kicked, spooked, and should otherwise be treated as dangerous and violent creatures all the time. I thought she was exaggerating. I had my helmet on—don't look so surprised, Dupain-Cheng, I didn't get where I am by taking <em>stupid</em> risks—and I wanted to <em>go</em> somewhere, especially if that somewhere was a place I could get away from Daddy and Mama. I swear, they shift between completely in love and unable to stand each other at the drop of a hat."</p>
<p>"No, Chloé, I <em>don't</em> know where you get your mood-shift tendencies from," Marinette deadpanned. Chloé glared at her, but didn't say anything.</p>
<p>"I wasn't on that trail for very long, anyway," Chloé continued. "There was a fallen tree in the way, so I found what looked like the least difficult way of getting around it and guided the horse on that way. There <em>shouldn't</em> have been a problem, but the stupid horse stepped wrong, panicked, and threw me off into one of the rocks."</p>
<p>"And then?" Marinette asked.</p>
<p>"Yes, Dupain-Cheng, the horse was fine, thank you for asking," Chloé said. "I wasn't, of course, but it didn't take long for everyone to find me. And then to scold me, and to be horrified at what had happened to me, and to make big threats to satisfy their own egos and worries until they could finally focus on <em>me</em> for a change."</p>
<p>Before she had been getting to know Chloé better, Marinette would have retorted that the real problem was that <em>too many</em> people were focused on Chloé. After seeing Mayor Bourgeois fret and anxiously ask about what Marinette and Chloé had talked about, in contrast to Mme. Bourgeois, who always seemed to be busy with something when Marinette was around, it was much clearer to Marinette that the only people who might have been paying Chloé <em>enough</em> attention in her life were Chloé and Sabrina.</p>
<p>"Are you afraid of what Sabrina will say to you?" Marinette asked.</p>
<p>"How many friends do you think I have, Dupain-Cheng?" Chloé countered.</p>
<p>"There are no right answers to that question," Marinette dodged. Even if at some point before this she would have said "zero" and meant it, at this moment, the question was a trap and every answer was wrong.</p>
<p>Unlike the small smile Chloé usually gave when Marinette successfully avoided one of the mines Chloé lobbed her way, Chloé scowled. "Diplomatic as ever, Dupain-Cheng," she said. "Do you like being in perpetual limbo with Adri-kins?" she added.</p>
<p>"What?" Marinette asked.</p>
<p>"You heard me. It's easier to live in a world where there's still a chance than to get up enough courage to find out, isn't it?"</p>
<p>Marinette was either getting used to Chloé’s clutch-less gear-shifts or, equally potentially frightening, she was beginning to understand Chloé's logic, because the question made much more sense with the additional lack of explanation.</p>
<p>"Yeah," Marinette admitted. "It <em>was</em> easier. But I couldn't stay in that state forever, Chloé, and neither can you. At some point, you're going to have to talk to Sabrina."</p>
<p>"No," Chloé said, an edge of desperation present. "I can't lose her. I won't do anything that could lose her." </p>
<p>"Why do you think you'll lose her?" Marinette asked.</p>
<p>"Weren't you <em>paying attention</em>, Dupain-Cheng?"</p>
<p>"Are you afraid that she's so mad at you over an accident that she'll leave you forever, Chloé? She's begging me <em>every goddamn day</em> to tell her about you, about what's happening, to find a way so she can see you."</p>
<p>"You don't <em>get it</em>, Dupain-Cheng!" Chloé roared. "If you lose a friend, you feel sad, but you'll find another. Knowing you, you'll find some way of falling into their arms, literally. You're so goddamn cheerful and positive, Rose threatened to turn me into a bloody pulp if I made you unhappy. But If I lose Sabrina, I have <em>nothing</em>!"</p>
<p>Marinette bit back her next sentence in time, despite the effort it took to swallow the ball of unfeeling rage that threatened to burst forth and ruin all the hard work she'd done to this point.</p>
<p>"Choose your next words very carefully, Dupain-Cheng." Chloé threatened.</p>
<p>"What would you tell her?" Marinette asked, bracing for consequences. When a few seconds had passed without an angry storm from Chloé, Marinette began to believe she might have managed to thread the needle.</p>
<p>"Do you think she would listen?" Chloé snarled, slamming the door shut on Marinette's optimism. "I didn't listen to her, after all. Why should she stick with someone who will remind her every day of the advice she gave me that I ignored? Of the <em>consequences</em> of ignoring that advice?"</p>
<p>Marinette kept her gaze firmly on Chloé, despite the fervent desire to roll her eyes so hard she could study her optic nerves in detail. "What kind of friend do you think Sabrina is?"</p>
<p>"A smart one," Chloé said. "We…I…why would she want to hang out with a cripple when she could have a real life?"</p>
<p>"And what am I, escargot in butter sauce?" Marinette blazed.</p>
<p>"You're here until your sense of duty and guilt tell you you've done enough to make up for not noticing sooner." Chloé replied.</p>
<p>"Oh, not <em>this</em> again," Marinette ground out, throwing her hands up in the air. "My <em>duty</em> was done to you once I made sure you could get your homework delivered."</p>
<p>"Don't lie to me, Dupain-Cheng! Taking the high ground and being nice to me is giving you the warm and fuzzies."</p>
<p>Marinette stormed to the door. "I can't deal with this right now. When you come back to your senses, <em>call Sabrina</em>. Until then, I won't bother you with my <em>moral superiority</em>." Marinette slammed the door behind her and fumed all the way to the lift. </p>
<p>Hawkmoth made the mistake of sending out an akuma to terrorize Paris not long after, giving Ladybug a perfect outlet to let out all the pressure and steam that she'd been holding in. Several times, the akuma found themselves as the ball to Ladybug's paddle, being pulled in by her yo-yo only to meet her fist and be sent back out (or up) a few blocks before the cycle started again.</p>
<p>Chat Noir wisely said nothing about her change in attitude until after the Miraculous Cure had repaired the damage done both by the akuma before Ladybug had wrapped him up and after Ladybug had transformed him into a makeshift punching bag.</p>
<p>"My Lady," he asked, "are you okay?"</p>
<p>"I feel much better now," she replied, smiling.</p>
<p>"Should I be getting used to the new you?" he asked, with concern.</p>
<p>"I'm fine," she said cheerily. "I got wound up by someone right before Hawkmoth decided to give me the perfect outlet for my frustration."</p>
<p>Chat Noir cocked his head at her. "You know I'm here if you need to talk, right?" he said.</p>
<p>"I appreciate that, Chat Noir," she replied. "But really, I'm fine. Sometimes you get frustrated by the silliest things, much more than you really should."</p>
<p>Before Chat Noir could pry further, both of their Miraculous chirped a warning at them to find a place to hide and detransform. He gave Ladybug a searching look before disappearing into the maze of streets and alleys. </p>
<p>Two days later, while working on her assignments, Marinette's phone buzzed with a text from Sabrina.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Whatever it is you did, thank you. Chloé finally called and we talked for hours.</p>
</blockquote><p>A few minutes later, her phone buzzed again.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>If I hear one word of gloating from you, we're done.</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette put her phone down, smiling, and went back to her homework.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Decisions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chloé met her in the hotel lobby when Marinette came for their weekly visit, rolling her chair to a stop a few feet in front of Marinette.</p>
<p>"You look pleased, Chloé," Marinette said.</p>
<p>"Wrong adjective, Dupain-Cheng," Chloé said. "The correct answer is: 'You look beautiful, Chloé.' "</p>
<p>Marinette took in Chloé's outfit and nodded appreciatively. "You look fashionable, Chloé," she said.</p>
<p>"Agh, <em>no</em>, Dupain-Cheng. If <em>you</em> think I look like fashionable, it means I'm at least somewhere two seasons ago!"</p>
<p>Marinette laughed politely. "You look beautiful, Chloé."</p>
<p>"Thank you," Chloé said, a pleased look on her face.</p>
<p>"Ready to go to the park?"</p>
<p>Chloé nodded. "Daddy and Mama were so happy to see me learn how to use the wheelchair. It might be the first time they've been genuinely happy since…well, you know."</p>
<p>Marinette wasn't particularly sure how Chloé would manage the tasks of driving her chair and holding a conversation, but Chloé managed the two tasks easily by making sure there wasn't any place for Marinette to get a word in when Chloé wasn't steering the chair. As much as Marinette disliked Chloé's tendency to talk over anyone who she thought wasn't as important as she was, it was a definite sign that normalcy might finally be returning to the Bourgeois household. Marinette grinned as she thought Chloé's exuberance might be because she could terrorize everyone in person again, even as she hoped that Chloé wouldn't fall too far back into old habits as she reclaimed more and more of her old life.</p>
<p>"How was your talk with Sabrina?" Marinette asked in one of Chloé's necessary pauses for steering.</p>
<p>"Ridiculous. Completely ridiculous," Chloé replied.</p>
<p>Marinette said nothing, giving Chloé a smile and waiting for Chloé to continue.</p>
<p>"I swear, I had to wait five minutes for her to finish ugly crying once she picked up," Chloé said, expressing the annoyance she had likely felt waiting for Sabrina to finish crying her tears of joy at finally being able to talk to her best friend again. "And then she kept talking about everything that had happened since I left. She sounded like you when you're blathering on about everything in a rush because you're too afraid that if you stop talking, you won't be able to start again."</p>
<p>Marinette winced at the barb. "Ow," she said in mock pain.</p>
<p>"But that wasn't even the worst part of it," Chloé groused.</p>
<p>"She didn't yell at you at all, did she?" Marinette said sympathetically.</p>
<p>"Not <em>once</em>," Chloé fumed. "How am I supposed to know what she really thinks when she isn't willing to be honest with me?"</p>
<p>There was an entire therapy session's worth of work in that statement, Marinette thought. It made more sense to her now than it had before, of course. In the early days of their…alliance, Marinette had been equally as confused about how Chloé judged someone's honesty by how willing they were to be angry at her, but several weeks of working Chloé through the process of accepting what had happened to her and considering it her new normal, instead of a temporary situation, had shown Marinette, in much greater detail, how little people had been willing to confront Chloé on just about anything. Marinette finally understood what Chloé had meant when she had said that Marinette hated her enough to be honest with her.</p>
<p>"Give Sabrina some time," Marinette advised. "She's probably still too happy that you're back and talking to her to let you know what she thinks about you."</p>
<p>"You've got a real weird sense of humor, Dupain-Cheng," Chloé said. "Much as I love Bri, she couldn't tell me off if her life depended on it."</p>
<p>"Is that a challenge?" Marinette said, smiling. "With some encouragement, and some reassurance that you actually want her to be mad at you, I'll bet she could blister your ears properly."</p>
<p>Chloé laughed. "I don't take euros from suckers, Dupain-Cheng. You should be glad."</p>
<p>"You wouldn't get my money, anyway, Chloé," Marinette shot back. "I'd win the bet."</p>
<p>"That sure, huh?" Chloé said. "What are your stakes, Dupain-Cheng?"</p>
<p>"Selfies," Marinette said immediately, hopefully giving Chloé the distinct feeling she just <em>had</em> been suckered after all. "I win, you start posting selfies again, including your new ride and some of the things you can do with it."</p>
<p>"No deal, Dupain-Cheng. The world will just have to remember me as a beautiful ingénue who tragically disappeared from the spotlight on the cusp of seizing it for herself."</p>
<p>Marinette tried to hold her laughter in, but it spilled out.</p>
<p>"What's so funny?" Chloé said, her voice turning colder.</p>
<p>"You're the only one I know of who had power in her hands and couldn't keep her mouth shut long enough to keep enjoying it," Marinette said.</p>
<p>Chloé's eyes blazed at Marinette. "Are you <em>trying</em> to piss me off, Dupain-Cheng?" she snapped. </p>
<p>Marinette smiled a sweet smile at Chloé. "Of course I am," she replied. "And now I know what to tell Sabrina to say to you so you can have the talk you desperately need."</p>
<p>Chloé's mouth snapped shut, before driving her chair faster so she could swing it back around to confront Marinette face-to-face.</p>
<p>"Listen, Dupain-Cheng," Chloé snarled, "you kick a bee's nest, you get stung. You sure that's what you want?"</p>
<p>"No, it's not," Marinette replied evenly. "But since you only seem to listen when you're in a rage, I had to get your attention somehow."</p>
<p>Chloé breathed out heavily. "Fine," she said. "What do you want?"</p>
<p>"Maybe, for once, you could just accept that Sabrina is really glad to have her friend back and leave it at that?"</p>
<p>Chloe huffed. "That's not it, and you've been around me enough to know that," she said.</p>
<p>"Then what is it?" Marinette asked.</p>
<p>"Like you don't already know," Chloé said, and started her chair again, causing Marinette to jump out of the way quickly.</p>
<p>"Enlighten me," Marinette said, catching back up to Chloé. "Treat me like the fool that you think I am."</p>
<p>Chloé laughed again. "I would call you a lot of things, Dupain-Cheng, but 'fool' isn't one."</p>
<p>Marinette had to weave around a bench as Chloé drove herself too close for Marinette to stay beside her safely. Undeterred, Marinette took her bag in her hand, hopped up on the bench and began walking across it.</p>
<p>"You sure you want to do that?" Chloé said, after Marinette turned a graceful flip off the other end of the bench without anything spilling out of her bag.</p>
<p>"Are you afraid I'm going to get hurt?" Marinette asked challengingly.</p>
<p>"Do whatever you want to do, Dupain-Cheng. It's your funeral." Chloé bit back.</p>
<p>"Backflips are easier than front flips. Did you know that, Chloé?" Marinette said.</p>
<p>Chloé did her best to look uninterested, and only partially succeeded. A silence stretched between the two, long enough that Marinette wondered if Chloé really wasn't interested in the answer.</p>
<p>"Ugh, <em>fine</em>, Dupain-Cheng, since you're obviously waiting to tell me the moral of this little story." Chloé's voice took on a saccharine note. "Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, why <em>is</em> it easier to do a backflip than a front flip?"</p>
<p>"Because you can see the landing," Marinette said, turning the front flip off of the next bench. And promptly going down in a heap after landing the trick. "Ow," she said, rubbing her ankle. "And that's why I stopped doing gymnastics," she added.</p>
<p>Chloé stared at her from her chair. "Why?" she asked. "What is your <em>damage</em>, Dupain-Cheng, that you think hurting yourself to make a point is a good idea?"</p>
<p>Marinette shrugged and continued to rub her ankle. "Why do you think someone yelling at you is the only way you'll get their honest opinion?"</p>
<p>"That's <em>different</em>."</p>
<p>"I remember hearing you tell me it was a bad idea," Marinette pointed out. "And yet, I kept doing it. Do you want to yell at me for that?"</p>
<p>"No," Chloé ground out, recognizing what position she was in. "I hate to say this aloud, but I was concerned you might have gotten seriously hurt."</p>
<p>Marinette popped up to her feet, limping slightly. "And there was nothing you could have done about it if I had," Marinette finished. "Sometimes accidents happen."</p>
<p>Marinette didn't expect Chloé to actually believe her. For one thing, a bruised ankle and a paralyzing spinal cord injury were so different in matters of degree that she wasn't really sure <em>she</em> would have believed herself. She was content planting the seed that might turn into an epiphany somewhere along the way. If Chloé kept talking with Sabrina, she might come to that realization sooner rather than later, but Marinette knew that Chloé wasn't silly or stupid.</p>
<p>"Well, sit down and rest, before you make it worse," Chloé snapped at her. Chloé kept a stormy silence between them as Marinette sat on the bench she had just attempted to vault off of, grateful for the time to keep weight off of her ankle.</p>
<p>"You really weren't trying to hurt yourself, right?" Chloé ventured after a while.</p>
<p>"No," Marinette replied, looking confused at Chloé's apparent earnestness. "Why?"</p>
<p>"It's the sort of thing you would do, Dupain-Cheng," Chloé said. "You always try so hard to have empathy for others that I half-expect to turn a corner one day and see Notre Dame has been re-christened Saint Marinette's. Until Rossi, anyway. I should thank her for showing me that even Marinette Dupain-Cheng has limits."</p>
<p>Marinette chuckled. "That's a unique way of putting it, Chloé. Thanks for the perspective."</p>
<p>Chloé rolled her eyes. "That wasn't supposed to be a <em>compliment</em>. How does Rossi manage to get under your skin so easily?"</p>
<p>"I'd tell you, but you wouldn't believe me anyway," Marinette said, equally seriously. "Or worse, you would, and then you'd start doing it."</p>
<p>"…I have more class than that," Chloé said after a silence. "How is your ankle?"</p>
<p>Marinette stood on her feet and smiled. "Much better, thank you," she said.</p>
<p>"Good," Chloé said, driving back toward the hotel. Marinette tried to keep up with her as best she could, but Chloé seemed very determined to focus on her steering, much more than she had been when they were heading to the park. When Chloé crossed the threshold of the hotel, she turned again to face Marinette.</p>
<p>"There. Back safely," Marinette said, smiling.</p>
<p>"Next time you decide you want to get hurt, Dupain-Cheng, maybe you should think about who you're with," Chloé retorted. "Next time, maybe think about someone more <em>able</em>," she added, before turning herself around and driving for the lifts.</p>
<p>Marinette blinked. It seemed like her hope that Chloé might have taken a useful lesson from her injury was just as misplaced as Chloé's belief that she deliberately tried to hurt herself. And now Chloé was mad at her again. </p>
<p>Marinette tried to puzzle out why Chloé had turned frosty after she'd landed wrong. It was only a small injury. Chloé didn't cause it to happen. Marinette had done it to herself. She would have been able to get help if she really had needed it. </p>
<p>"Oh, <em>fuck me</em>," Marinette said as she realized what she'd done, and started texting.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>I'm sorry, Chloé. Looks like Mlle. Maladroit struck in more ways than one today. I'll try not to be so foolish in the future.</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette made her way home and began to work on her homework. When she came out of her concentration to get a drink, there was a message waiting for her.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>At least you understand. I'd be <em>really</em> pissed if I had to explain myself.</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette chuckled to herself, sent another apology text, and turned back to her homework.</p>
<hr/>
<p>When Marinette's phone chimed in the morning, she thought Chloé had sent another text needling her. Opening her phone, Marinette took a second look at the notification.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>@officiallychloebourgeois posted a new photo.</p>
</blockquote><p>Realizing she wouldn't be able to give the photo proper attention until she was on the way to school, Marinette left the notification alone. When she finally had the time to study it, Marinette tapped the notification to pull up the image.</p>
<p>She had to admit whomever had shot this picture had a photographer's eye. Chloé had been staged in a regular chair, one arm on the windowsill, the other on the armrest, looking thoughtful as she gazed out over the city. Nobody would have been able to tell that Chloé couldn't move her body like that. The pose felt natural and, if Marinette were honest, elegant.</p>
<p>The caption was unusually terse for Chloé, who usually had a story about how things were either going well or unfairly for her in her life accompanying every picture.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Had a big fight yesterday. But we forgave each other, and this light was too good to pass up the opportunity for a shot. I've captured just the right balance of wistful and contemplative here.</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette shrugged. Whatever justification she wanted to use for it was fine, but at least Chloé had announced to some part of the world that she was still around. It was something to build on. Although there was one part that needed to be cleared up before anything else would happen.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>I didn't talk to Sabrina last night. So any bet you lost was all you.</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette didn't expect Chloé to respond, and so her phone's chime caught her off guard right before she was going to climb the steps to school.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Wasn't a bet in the first place, or did you forget?</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette shook her head, climbing the stairs as she composed her reply.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Who helped you get posed and shoot the picture? They've got a good eye for making you look good.</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette had barely managed to slip her phone back into her pocket and enter the collège before Sabrina spotted her and made straight her path to Marinette, throwing her arms around and giving Marinette a surprisingly strong hug.</p>
<p>"Thank you," Sabrina whispered into her ear.</p>
<p>That answered the question of who helped Chloé pose and shoot, in Marinette's opinion. </p>
<p>"How was she this morning?" Marinette asked, fishing for confirmation as they both made their way toward their first class of the day.</p>
<p>"Temperamental, impatient, entirely unwilling to listen to reason, and convinced she knew better," Sabrina said, shaking her head.</p>
<p>"Typical Chloé, then," Marinette said, nodding.</p>
<p>"Yes," Sabrina said happily. "It's weird to say you're happy that you had a full-throated shouting match with your best friend, but after we got done yelling at each other, I finally got to say what I needed to, and Chloé listened. Really, actually listened."</p>
<p>"That sounds encouraging," Marinette ventured.</p>
<p>"Well, she demonstrated she was listening by insulting my taste in music, and we had another good shout at each other about that."</p>
<p>"For Chloé, that's progress," Marinette said, nodding.</p>
<p>"Thank you again," Sabrina said. "Chloé will never thank you properly for being there for her, but I will." Sabrina opened the door to their classroom and darted inside.</p>
<p>Before entering herself, Marinette took a last look at her messages. Chloé had replied to her question.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Wouldn't you like to know? *Some* of us have hidden talents that take the right situation to bring out.</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette covered her mouth to keep from bursting into laughter outside the classroom, put her phone in her pocket, and walked in with a smile on her face. Sabrina was right. Feeling happy at Sabrina and Chloé's fight was, well, ridiculous, but it was also so exquisitely <em>Chloé</em> for things to have gone that way between them that Marinette really couldn't have envisioned it any other way.</p>
<hr/>
<p>"You are going to have to tell me something, though, Chloé," Marinette said, when she had recounted the pure joy that Sabrina had radiated all throughout the day. "Are you and Sabrina interested in each other?"</p>
<p>Chloé's features immediately went to stone. "Why do you want to know?"</p>
<p>"Because I think it would be cruel for you to lead her on forever," Marinette said. "I'm pretty sure she's in to you, Chloé, and I don't think it's escaped your notice. If you don't like her as more than a friend, or if you only think of her as a lackey, you should probably say as much and break her heart now, while she still has a chance to heal from it."</p>
<p>Chloé snickered. "I must be rubbing off on you, Dupain-Cheng, because you never used to be this blunt."</p>
<p>"Hanging out with you is helping me develop my acid tongue," Marinette retorted. "And you still haven't answered my question."</p>
<p>"Weren't you the one saying that we shouldn't be labeling others so easily?"</p>
<p>"Why are you ducking the question?"</p>
<p>"Why do you care, Dupain-Cheng?"</p>
<p>"Because Sabrina deserves to know what your relationship is!"</p>
<p>"It transcends your puny mortal mind, Dupain-Cheng."</p>
<p>Marinette facepalmed and sat herself in the chair facing away from Chloé, staring out the window.</p>
<p>"If you didn't take that picture and post it for Sabrina, then who did you post it for?" Marinette asked, trying to keep her voice calm.</p>
<p>"It didn't have to be <em>for</em> anyone other than me," Chloé snapped. "Maybe I wanted to be sure that I <em>could</em> post."</p>
<p>"Okay," Marinette said, sighing. "You know that I won't judge you for your preferences, right?"</p>
<p>"Is that pity I detect from you?"</p>
<p>"No. Sincerity. Now that I've seen a lot more into your life, Chloé, I wouldn't be surprised if you decided you were never going to tell anybody that you were interested in anyone but Adrien."</p>
<p>"Oh, so it's judgment now? Big improvement, Dupain-Cheng."</p>
<p>Marinette stayed silent for a while, searching for another way of trying to approach the problem. "Aside from your parents, Sabrina and Adrien are the only people who you use a nickname for. Or, for that matter, they're the only people whose you don't call by their last names. They're probably the two people that you would trust the most," she said.</p>
<p>"And?"</p>
<p>"I…can understand why people might want to keep secrets, even from people they trust," Marinette said, suddenly glad she was sitting with her back to Chloé. "And you yelled at me some time ago about not losing Sabrina. So, I might be wrong, but I think it would be a bigger betrayal for Sabrina to find out you only ever wanted to be friends with her if you tell her some years down the road. Or if you never tell her and she keeps turning people down because she still carries a torch for you."</p>
<p>"She wouldn't do that," Chloé said. "Bri's smart. She'll take someone who tells her they love her over a friend who hasn't."</p>
<p>"I wouldn't be sure about that," Marinette said, laughing. "You saw, and probably laughed at, how long it took me to actually talk to Adrien about my crush on him."</p>
<p>"You were <em>sad</em>, Dupain-Cheng, not funny. I tried to get Adri-kins to let you down gently, but he didn't have his spine then. He was pretty convinced anyone being mad at him would tell his father and the great Gabriel Agreste would yank the only bit of freedom he’d managed to win for himself in his life."</p>
<p>"Right," Marinette said, turning around to face Chloé again. "So, shouldn't you let Sabrina down gently?"</p>
<p>"Bri already knows," Chloé insisted.</p>
<p>"Knows, or believes?" Marinette asked. "Until I believed, I didn't know. I could always find an excuse."</p>
<p>"Why do you care? Do you think that you're good enough for Sabrina?"</p>
<p>"What? No." Marinette said. "I'm not trying to poach Sabrina from you, Chloé. I just want you two to be clear about your relationship so nobody gets hurt."</p>
<p>"Sabrina is a <em>friend</em>," Chloé insisted, trying to match Marinette glare for glare. Marinette knew that Chloé could outlast her if they stayed at this level, so she decided to escalate more than Chloé would and did her very best approximation of Sabine's "not buying it" stare, while some part of her silently worried that she was becoming far too much like her mother for her liking.</p>
<p>As much as she didn't like resorting to parental tactics, the stare worked, and Chloé looked away first. "Fine, she's more than a <em>normal</em> friend. We weren't doing anything, like, sexual, though."</p>
<p>"Did you want to?"</p>
<p>Chloé's face suggested that she was going to explode at Marinette again, before all of it drained out and a resigned look replaced it. "Too late for that now, even if I did, don't you think, Dupain-Cheng?"</p>
<p>Marinette smiled awkwardly in response. Chloé's face shifted to horror as she realized the implications of Marinette's demeanor. </p>
<p>"Were you doing <em>research</em>?"</p>
<p>"<em>I</em> wasn't, no," Marinette said, putting her hands up defensively. "But someone else was, and she needed to share."</p>
<p>Chloé tilted her head. "Well? What did she find out?" she said pointedly, a small smile suggesting she was enjoying Marinette's growing discomfort with the subject.</p>
<p>"There were some articles and a documentary, but apparently, it might be possible to directly stimulate, uh, you, in the right places, and have a…pleasurable result."</p>
<p>"Huh," Chloé said, blinking. "Didn't know that." Her eyebrows indicated she was still processing the new information. After a while, she refocused her attention on Marinette."What are you still doing here?"</p>
<p>"Am I late for something?" Marinette said, looking at her phone to make sure she hadn't forgotten an appointment.</p>
<p>"No," Chloé said. "I'm alive, I'm settling in, I can get around, I can do my work, I have my best friend talking to me again. Except for the obvious part, things are back the way they were. What are you still doing here? You're done. You don't have any reason to still be here. We can go back to hating each other like we did before."</p>
<p>"I never hated you, Chloé. I thought you were a spoiled princess and a brat who delighted in torturing me, but I didn't hate you," Marinette said. "I wanted to avoid you, because you were a bully."</p>
<p>"Hrmph," Chloé huffed, still looking thoughtful. "You still have a fabulous way with people," she said, but far less venomously than she usually was when Chloé felt she'd been insulted. "You still didn't answer my question, though."</p>
<p>"Is it that hard to believe that you might have made a friend, Chloé?" Marinette ventured.</p>
<p>Chloé's thoughtful look was immediately replaced by a scowl. "With you? That's…"</p>
<p>"Ridiculous? Utterly ridiculous?" Marinette said lightly.</p>
<p>"Yes," Chloé said. "Go away, Marinette, I'm thinking," she added. Marinette nodded and waved goodbye to Chloé before letting herself out.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Defense</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was another picture waiting for Marinette in the morning. It looked a lot more like one of Chloé's regular selfies, with sunglasses on her head, her hair looking like it hadn't been meticulously styled (like Marinette knew it was), and a look that suggested she was deigning to show the camera a look just long enough for the picture. It took Marinette a little bit to realize that Chloé had to have taken the picture while she was in the power chair, because the picture was <em>outside</em>.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Looks like a good selfie. Did you get a good stand for your chair?</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette smiled. Chloé was always good at getting what she wanted when she was motivated.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Daddy got it for me. It could be better.</p>
</blockquote><p>Which meant Chloé was thrilled with it. Marinette was happy that Chloé was adjusting. It was still weird to think of Chloé as a friend, rather than an antagonist, but Marinette was certainly willing to keep it going for as long as Chloé was. There was a certain amount of resignation in the back of Marinette's head that once Sabrina and Chloé had regained their former intimacy, she'd be pushed out, but it was nice to have Chloé as a friend for however long it lasted.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>In case you hadn't heard it, the school just finished their accessibility assessment. Mme. Bustier said the school is waiting to make sure the lift works and can support you safely, and then you'll be able to return to class.</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette imagined Chloé's ringtone shrieking at her, based on the speed that Chloé called and the pitch of her voice when Marinette picked up.</p>
<p>"What do you <em>mean</em>, return to class?"</p>
<p>"Oh, it's been fun," Marinette said sourly. "I would like to see Adrien, Alya, and Sabrina's advocacy come to something, although at this point, I want to see it happen equally as much to spite all the heel-dragging as much as I want to see you at school again."</p>
<p>"They can't possibly expect me to come to school!"</p>
<p>"They will, Chloé. But I've already been sketching out ways for you to make your chair fashionable."</p>
<p>"…That's creepy, Dupain-Cheng."</p>
<p>"That I'm right?"</p>
<p>"That you thought about it in the first place."</p>
<p>Marinette waited a beat to give Chloé the opportunity to say what she was really feeling.</p>
<p>"How can I go back to school looking like this?" Chloé said. "Nobody else at school has to use a wheelchair."</p>
<p>That much had been obvious to Marinette as soon as she had heard Sabrina complain about accessibility issues and threaten to involve the Ministry for Persons with Disabilities if the school didn't get moving. Alya had found the appropriate Inclusive School documents and suggested the collège start thinking a lot more about its PIAL requirements. Marinette had scrambled to do enough research to understand what they were talking about, but had, in the meantime, contributed by pointing out what kinds of changes would be needed to make the school more accessible. Previously, stairs had been a problem for Marinette because she kept finding new ways to trip on them or almost fall down them, but after she had gone through a regular day of classes with an eye toward how Chloé would get around, she realized how much she had taken stairs, and how integral they were to getting to her classes on time, for granted.</p>
<p>"Thus, the fashion designs," Marinette said, giving Chloé the opportunity to turn back from the very personal space she was about to lead Marinette into. "I think black and yellow striping would be a good scheme."</p>
<p>"I am <em>not</em> letting you near my chair," Chloé said. "You would ruin my tragic aesthetic with something bright, perky, and covered in rhinestones."</p>
<p>"I like you more than that," Marinette protested. "And my designs are tasteful."</p>
<p>Chloé laughed. Not the laugh that usually preceded a venomous insult, but a warm and genuine bout of good humor.</p>
<p>"Your designs are meant to catch the eye of people who work in fashion, Dupain-Cheng. They wouldn't even notice if it didn't have feathers, belts, or only looked impossibly good on people with impossible figures."</p>
<p>"I swore off feathers after the one time with Adrien," Marinette said. "Plus, belts are really hard to get right on a silhouette."</p>
<p>"And?" Chloé prompted.</p>
<p>"The last one is totally accurate," Marinette said. "It's really hard to design something that will look good on everyone, regardless of their body shape. Everyone wants to do something different with their figure, whether it's flattening or accentuating or actually being able to move and breathe in it without it ripping to shreds the first time you stretch."</p>
<p>"That's your fault for being fit," Chloé said, laughing again, recalling the same incident where Marinette had accidentally created a leg slit on a pair of capris by doing an unplanned splits after one of her feet slid out from underneath her. Marinette spluttered into the phone, unable to form a coherent retort, remembering her embarrassment as Adrien complimented her fashion sense and innocently admired the musculature of her legs. Chloé had teased Marinette for weeks about her legs afterward.</p>
<p>"Yes, you, baker girl," Chloé continued. "Did you forget the time when you stopped the weight that had gotten away from the boys and then had to scrape their jaws off the floor after hauling it back into place and putting it on the bar?"</p>
<p>"It wasn't that heavy. 25 kilograms isn't even a full sack of flour!" Marinette protested.</p>
<p>"You're adorable," Chloé said with the same tone of voice that usually preceded a scathing put-down. "And clueless. If Ivan wasn't devoted to Mylène and Kim equally clueless, you could have had them wrapped around your little finger with that stunt."</p>
<p>"They're not—it wouldn't—do you think of all your relationships that way?" Marinette managed. In the silence that followed, she checked to make sure that Chloé hadn't been disconnected.</p>
<p>"Bri said the same thing to me, a little after Miraculer," Chloé said, her sting completely evaporated. "I thought I had lost her for good that time. She hated me. Everyone hated me. What will they think now? 'Lo, how the haughty have fallen?' "</p>
<p>Chloé ended the call without saying anything more. Marinette made a beeline for the nearest deserted-looking alleyway, calling for Tikki to transform her. Vaulting up to the rooftop network the Miraculous Heroes used to get everywhere quickly, Ladybug swung her way as quickly as she could toward Chloé's room, hoping that she would manage to prevent a tragedy for once instead of reacting to it. Swinging up to the balcony outside of Chloé's room, Ladybug scanned the sky for what she expected to see, hoping she wasn't too late.</p>
<p>"Ladybug?" Chloé said, opening a door to her room. "What are you doing here?"</p>
<p>Ladybug turned back to see Chloé, and caught the flicker of purple as it approached from behind her. One throw, and Hawkmoth's threat was extinguished. Knowing it was unlikely that only one threat was on the way, Ladybug waited for the blue feather, compliments of Mayura, Paris’s<i> second</i><span>-least favorite supervillain,</span>to make its appearance as well and captured it.</p>
<p>"No more evil-doing for you, akuma and amok," she said, letting the purified butterfly and feather float away.</p>
<p>"You startled me," Chloé said. "Now I know why, but could you give some warning before you start flinging things past people's heads? It's not like I can move quickly any more."</p>
<p>"I'm sorry," Ladybug apologized. "I was hoping to get here earlier and capture them before they got so close to you."</p>
<p>"Thank you," Chloé said. Ladybug wasn't sure whether it was for the rescue or for the apology, but was willing to accept that it might be for both at the same time.</p>
<p>"Your friend, Marinette, called me when you hung up on her and said she thought you were in a bad headspace."</p>
<p>"D-Dupain-Cheng sent you to check on me?" Chloé said, tilting her head.</p>
<p>"Yeah. Glad I got here in time," Ladybug said. "Do you want to talk?"</p>
<p>Chloé tilted her head at Ladybug, before nodding. "Come in," she said. "You might be the only person that understands."</p>
<p>"Understands?" Ladybug said, following Chloé inside.</p>
<p>Chloé sighed. "Pollen. I miss my kwami. And it sounds weird to say, but even though I knew I couldn't have her again, because Hawkmoth would try to take her or to get me to join him…again, after…the accident, there's no way I'll get to be Queen Bee again."</p>
<p>"Hope is pretty powerful," Ladybug said understandingly.</p>
<p>"They're going to make me go to school again, too," Chloé said. "I don't want to."</p>
<p>"And why is that?"</p>
<p>Chloé sighed again, frustrated. "Look, you already know that I'm not good at keeping my mouth shut. It'll be the perfect opportunity for everyone who I've made fun of to get back at me, and I won't be able to do anything about it."</p>
<p>"So you would rather hide from the consequences of your actions than accept them?" Ladybug asked, her tone indicating what she thought of that option.</p>
<p>"You're not the one in the wheelchair," Chloé snapped back. "This wasn't supposed to happen. None of this was <em>supposed</em> to happen this way. If I had what you have, this wouldn't have been a problem."</p>
<p>"What do you think I have, Chloé?" Ladybug asked.</p>
<p>"You're—you've got everything! Admirers, friends, superpowers! Probably a functioning family. Who wouldn't want that?"</p>
<p>"Someone who wants to be normal. Someone who wants a day off. Someone who has to live up to every minute of every person's expectations of them, because otherwise, a lot of Paris dies and Hawkmoth wins."</p>
<p>"You make it sound terrible," Chloé said, scrunching her face in disbelief. "There have to be good bits, too. You could probably have anybody in Paris if you winked at them."</p>
<p>"Only to have Hawkmoth target them relentlessly, like he did to you," Ladybug countered.</p>
<p>"I'll bet you have a happy home life, with dinners and conversations every night."</p>
<p>"Nope," Ladybug said cheerily. "Having to be a superhero at all hours really wrecks your 'good child' credit."</p>
<p>Chloé stared, still trying to process what she was hearing. "So why don't you quit?"</p>
<p>"I ask myself that a lot, too," Ladybug said, sitting down on the bed next to Chloé's chair. "It would be a lot easier to let someone else be Ladybug. But I don't want anyone else to suffer, so I keep going."</p>
<p>"What?" Chloé exclaimed. "Ugh, <em>whatever</em>," she followed dismissively afterward. "I still don't want to go back to school."</p>
<p>"You don't want to experience what it's like to be bullied?" Ladybug said. "Are you sure that's what will happen?"</p>
<p>"Why wouldn't it? It would feel weird if they didn't," Chloé replied. "At least, if they did, I would know we were even." Chloé laughed. "It took <em>so</em> long for Dupain-Cheng to get mad at me the first time."</p>
<p>"Why is that important to you, Chloé?"</p>
<p>"Because I don't want anyone who won't be honest with me about their feelings," Chloé said.</p>
<p>"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly," Ladybug said, trying to keep surprise off her face.</p>
<p>"You're smoking hot, Ladybug," Chloé said, "but we both know that I would have been a terrible lover. The best I could have hoped for was to be a regrettable fling with you that would have ruined me for any lesser woman, and now…" Ladybug got the definite feeling that if she could have physically done so, Chloé would have shrugged. "Now the best I can hope for is that someone will be there to put me back in when I get tipped out of my chair at school."</p>
<p>"So how does Marinette play into this?" Ladybug asked, still trying to keep it cool.</p>
<p>"Dupain-Cheng is the only one I trust to be strong enough to pick everything back up and put me back in the chair," Chloé said. Ladybug smiled at Chloé, not saying anything, expecting her to continue. "Okay, and maybe because she's pretty, too, and as much as I think that cheery disposition of hers is an act, it's a good enough act that I want more of it."</p>
<p>"Mm-hmm," Ladybug added, trying to mimic Alya's smile when she was interested in all the gossip she could get.</p>
<p>"I'm not going to abandon Bri, you know? We're still…close," Chloé said, settling on a word that Ladybug knew was close enough, even if it wasn't exact. "but I want to spend more time around Marinette, too. I just…I don't want this to be another impulsive move that ends in a disaster."</p>
<p>"Have you tried talking to her about it?"</p>
<p>"She'd ask me why. She'd ask me if this was what I really wanted, or whether I was just falling in love with someone who has shown her kindness, and a hundred other questions that I'd need to have answers for, because she obsesses and second-guesses and wants to make sure everything's perfect. I don't have answers for her," Chloé said. "I don't even know what her questions are going to be."</p>
<p>A tapping at the window drew both of their attention to Chat Noir, who had an apologetic look on his face. Ladybug sighed.</p>
<p>"Go be a superhero," Chloé said. "And if you find either of them, kick Hawkmoth and Mayura where it hurts for me."</p>
<p>Ladybug smiled. "Thanks for the talk, Chloé."</p>
<p>Shortly, Ladybug and Chat Noir were bounding over the rooftops of Paris to deal with the latest threat to the city's safety. And if Chat Noir recognized that his Lady put a little more force behind her blows against the akuma than usual, he chalked it up as something to have to do with Chloé and didn't ask.</p>
<hr/>
<p>"Chloé's coming back to school today," Marinette said to Sabrina, Alya, and Adrien as they arrived at the collège's front steps. "When I asked, she said that she didn't want people doing things for her so that she could figure out how to do them herself, but I think we should all keep an eye on her and see what things she really struggles with, so that we can figure out how to make it easier for her."</p>
<p>"You've gotten pretty close to Chloé over the last few weeks," Alya said. "Do you think she's better? Behaviorally, I mean."</p>
<p>Marinette and Sabrina exchanged glances. "On some things, yes—" Marinette started.</p>
<p>"—On so many other things, no," Sabrina finished. </p>
<p>Alya frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"</p>
<p>"Chloé will behave herself until she gets mad about something, and then she'll probably be classic Chloé for a bit before remembering that she's trying to be better." Marinette said. Sabrina nodded in agreement.</p>
<p>Alya got a conniving look and a slight grin on her face. "If we can get Chloé upset about the right things, then…"</p>
<p>"Let's not," Adrien said.</p>
<p>"I'll wait until she's settled in, don't worry," Alya said placatingly.</p>
<p>"Alya, please don't," Marinette said. "Chloé was worried she would be bullied today, and I don't want to prove her right."</p>
<p>"Fine," Alya said. "For now. I still plan on using that Bourgeois anger to make changes in this school."</p>
<p>"Uh, there's Chloé now, so unless we want it to look like we're conspiring, we should probably go somewhere else?" Adrien asked.</p>
<p>Sabrina hopped down the stairs to give Chloé a hug as the other three headed in toward their classes. Adrien would keep an eye on the hallways to make sure nothing terrible happened to Chloé, while Marinette and Alya scouted ahead into the classroom to make sure there weren't any unpleasant surprises for Chloé when she arrived. When Chloé positioned herself in the space that had been made for her in the front, next to Sabrina, everything seemed to be okay.</p>
<p>"Welcome back, Chloé," Mme. Bustier said, smiling, and that was the last anyone spoke of Chloé's absence for the entire class. </p>
<p>It was about halfway through the class before Marinette realized that while Chloé had been talking about the same amount that she had been in class before the accident, <em>what</em> she was talking about had changed. Chloé was engaging more with the class and providing relevant answers and thoughtful discussions.</p>
<p>Apparently, she hadn't been the only one to notice, either. "I think someone's flirting with you, Marinette," Alix murmured at her as they packed up their materials from class.</p>
<p>"What makes you say that?" Marinette asked.</p>
<p>"The way to Marinette's heart is being ridiculously cute, at least if you're Adrien," Alix said, increasing the non-sequitur factor by at least three in Marinette's opinion. "Looks like Chloé might be trying to get there by being smart. I, for one, welcome our new brainiac overlords."</p>
<p>Marinette blinked. Sure, she'd heard Chloé confess her heart out, but that was to Ladybug, and she wasn't completely sure that Chloé had been serious at the time. And Chloé was usually pretty confident in expressing her opinions and desires, including to Marinette. If Chloé wanted something from Marinette, she'd tell Marinette. And maybe, if Marinette was lucky, would ask her afterward what she thought about it. Marinette couldn't conceive of a Chloé who was nervous about, well, anything. If she had been serious talking to Ladybug about not wanting to regret an impulsive decision, then that would mean several things that Chloé had already done and said around her were casting different shadows.</p>
<p>Marinette stepped outside the classroom, still mulling over her thoughts.</p>
<p>"—would be a <em>shame</em> if someone ruined those last-season shoes and your precious pedicure because you wouldn't get the fuck out of my face!" Chloé's voice broke through Marinette's reverie. Marinette grimaced and started running toward Chloé's voice.</p>
<p>"What are you going to <em>do</em> about it, Chloé?" an unfamiliar girl's voice taunted as Marinette got closer to the scene. "Run home and cry to daddy about it?"</p>
<p>Marinette rounded the last corner and felt her foot come in contact with something, putting her off balance and falling into the air. Without any time to think about what was happening, her gymnastics training took over again, tucking her shoulders and making a passable roll on the floor before springing back up to her feet, looking both for Chloé and what had tripped her.</p>
<p>"Is there a problem here?" Mme. Mendeleiev's voice commanded from the staircase she was descending.</p>
<p>"No, madame," one of the girls facing her said.</p>
<p>"Then I expect you have more pressing matters to attend to," Mme. Mendeleiev said, making it clear she wasn't making a suggestion.</p>
<p>The crowd dispersed, leaving Chloé by herself, breathing a little more heavily from her shout.</p>
<p>"Mlle. Bourgeois, language. I understand the circumstances, but don't make threats you don't intend to follow through on." Mme. Mendeleiev said sternly. "Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, exercise more caution around your classmates." The situation defused, Mme. Mendeleiev headed back toward her classroom.</p>
<p>"This is what I was talking about, Dupain-Cheng," Chloé said. "Mme. Mendeleiev's right. Next time I'll just drive over her foot." Chloé started her chair toward the lift before Marinette could object, or express sympathy, or do anything other than stare. Spotting Adrien coming down the same staircase that Mme. Mendeleiev had been on, Marinette cast her gaze out at the courtyard. She scowled at Lila working her way across the space, who smiled, winked at her with a little wave, and then continued on.</p>
<p>Maybe Alya wasn't so far off the mark after all, Marinette thought, before shaking her head. Chloé might want to use her chair as a tank, but that didn't mean it was the right thing to do immediately. Even if there was a little visceral satisfaction at the thought of Lila "accidentally" getting bumped by Chloé going at speed. The thought kept her cheerful as she arrived at her next class.</p>
<p>By lunch Chloé had written up what had happened and cross-posted it to all of her social media accounts, flooding Marinette's phone with notifications. It was a well-crafted screed, Marinette thought as she scrolled through Chloé's complaint about the slowness of the lifts, the inadequacy of the accommodations, and the threats Chloé had been subjected to from the others. With a little tweaking, some of the things that Chloé was saying would look good put on protest signs, Marinette thought, laying out some of the possibilities in her head.</p>
<p>"Since when did she have that kind of writing skill?" Alya said to Marinette, pulling up one of the posts and showing it to her. "If she can do this kind of quality work in that short of a time, she'd be great at writing for the Ladyblog."</p>
<p>"I don't think she'd be interested," Marinette said. "This got Chloé back to social media, but I'm still not sure Chloé would be interested in anything that didn't directly benefit herself. You might find her pretty stubborn when it comes to deadlines. And editorial control," Marinette added as an afterthought.</p>
<p>Alya shrugged and nodded. "Maybe if that's what she gets passionate about, she can put that to use."</p>
<p>A sharp cry of pain interrupted all the activity in the lunch space. Looking over to see the cause of the commotion, Marinette saw Sabrina standing over one of the girls from earlier, face red and fists ready, before stalking off.</p>
<p>"She may not be the only one with passion," Marinette said absently.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Date</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Marinette's phone chimed after she finished the last drawing. Even though Chloé had told her directly that she wasn't going to get a chance to decorate her powerchair, Marinette had been thinking and researching about fashionable clothing for Chloé. The challenge of making something look good and still be easy for a caregiver to get on and off Chloé showed her that she still had a long way to go before she could confidently say she could make a fashionable design work for everyone. Even if she never got to see how it would look on Chloé, Marinette wanted to be ready in case her friend (and it was still a bit odd to say that Chloé <em>was</em> her friend) asked her for some outfits.</p><p>Tapping on the notification for the text she'd received, Marinette looked at what Chloé had sent and fell out of her chair onto the floor.</p><p>"Are you all right, Marinette?" Sabine called up the stairs.</p><p>"Fine, thank you! Just clumsy," Marinette replied, before looking again at the pictures that Chloé had sent her.</p><p>Sabrina had to have been involved in this, Marinette's brain helpfully supplied.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Do I look pretty to you?</p>
</blockquote><p>The first picture was Chloé on her bed wearing her Ladybug costume. She'd been posed to look like she was in the middle of lounging, one leg bent, her torso resting on a wedge pillow in a way that made it look like Chloé was supporting herself on the pillow, an inviting smile on her face. It would have succeeded at fooling Marinette, except she could see the worry in Chloé's eyes. She'd seen that look in Adrien's eyes for many of his photo shoots and wondered if anyone else could see it, as well. There was something on Chloé's mind in that shot, even if Marinette didn't know what it was.</p><p>The other picture Chloé had sent was her in a Queen Bee costume that looked just as customized as the Ladybug one had been. She'd been posed sitting in her chair, one leg crossed over the other, with her head appearing to rest on her left arm. Her right hand seemed to be idly holding Queen Bee's weapon of choice. Marinette thought Chloé was trying to look casual in the spot, but it came across to her like Chloé was bored instead. Admittedly, "bored" suited Chloé a lot more than "casual" ever did. It had always been infuriating when Chloé had turned that look on her, dismissing her as completely beneath notice, but for this picture, Marinette thought the look really helped pull everything together.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Queen Bee captured your essence. You look regal.</p>
</blockquote><p>Chloé's reply was swift.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>That's not what I asked you.</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette blinked. Chloé told Ladybug that she didn't want to appear like she was charging in, but she had to have known how direct her question was. Did Chloé really want a direct answer?</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>You've always looked pretty, Chloé.</p>
</blockquote><p>It was never Chloé's <em>looks</em> Marinette had a problem with, frankly. Her personality had been so caustic and so interested in making Marinette feel small and terrible that she'd never really given any thought to Chloé's looks, other than hoping that Sabrina would stop being swayed by them so Chloé might get wise to the real root of her problems. It seemed like a necessary thing then. Now, with the accident, Chloé was learning, but it seemed like far too cruel a way of instilling the lesson. Had she caused it, even subtly, because of the Miraculous she had?</p><p>"Oh, Tikki, did I cause this?" Marinette said. </p><p>"Cause what?" Tikki asked.</p><p>"What happened to Chloé. Did I create the accident?"</p><p>"No, Marinette," Tikki said firmly. "It takes a lot more effort than just an idle wish to use Ladybug's power of creation. You really have to have it in your heart—"</p><p>"—But I did!—"</p><p>"—<em>And</em> to be willing to accept the consequences."</p><p>"Huh?"</p><p>"You should look at your phone, Marinette." Tikki said, right before it chimed with Chloé's response.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>That's still not what I asked, Marinette. Do I look pretty to <em>you</em>?</p>
</blockquote><p>"She was serious about that?" Marinette whispered to herself, as several of her convenient justifications about Chloé's behavior evaporated. "I thought Chloé was exaggerating. What should I do now?"</p><p>"I would start with answering the question honestly," Tikki deadpanned.</p><p>"Yes, but if I say she's pretty, then will Chloé ask me on a date? What will I say about that? I mean, it's fine, I'm not dating anyone, but what about Sabrina? Should I ask her about whether she's okay with this? Will Chloé want to be affectionate in public? How many akuma can I count on when we have a falling-out or are fighting with each other?"</p><p>"Slow down, Marinette," Tikki said. "You're getting ahead of yourself."</p><p>Marinette took a deep breath and let it out. "You're right, Tikki. Chloé might just want a second opinion before posting these to her social media accounts." She picked up her phone again.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Yes. You look pretty to me.</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette's phone stayed silent, rather than the immediate reply she had expected from Chloé. None of Chloé's social media accounts pinged with a new post, either. Whatever feelings Chloé was having about Marinette's reply, she wasn't having them anywhere that could be seen.</p><p>"Should I be worried?" Marinette asked Tikki. "Was this a mistake? Did I say something wrong? "</p><p>Her phone chimed.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Calm down, Dupain-Cheng. I'm still thinking. By the way, Bri is fine with you and I dating.</p>
</blockquote><p>"Am I that predictable?" Marinette asked pointedly.</p><p>Tikki smiled, but said nothing as Marinette messaged Sabrina.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>This is going to sound awkward, but did you and Chloé really have a talk about whether or not it was okay for Chloé and I to date?</p>
</blockquote><p>Even if what Chloé wanted to do was distract Marinette from her own anxiety, and even if it was working, much as Marinette would never admit that in front of Chloé, it was still something Marinette would have done herself if things had progressed to that point. Chloé was just assuming something that she hadn't even asked Marinette over. So any speculation about what Chloé was thinking was just that, speculation. Chloé had told Ladybug that she didn't have all the answers to the questions she expected out of Marinette, and that she was trying not to rush into a relationship, so there was no real reason for Marinette to be doing any of this, because Chloé hadn't actually said anything. She'd just sent pictures and wanted to know if she looked pretty in them.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Yes, we did, yes, I'm fine with it, and Chloé owes me fifty euros, because you're both disasters.</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette nearly swore at her phone before realizing Sabrina wouldn't hear it anyway, right before Chloé's next message landed.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>How would you feel about dating a girl who isn't perfect?</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette grabbed a nearby pillow and screamed into it. Sabrina was right and deserved all fifty of those euros.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>I don't know; I've never dated anyone perfect. I have been getting to know someone a lot better over the last few months. I thought she was perfect…ly terrible before, but now I've seen her flaws, and I think they make her a lot nicer than she wants me to believe.</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette sent it with a smirk on her face, to see if she could get Chloé to fumble for a bit, but Chloé's response was too fast for Marinette to believe she'd scored a touch.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>I didn't think you were into Tsurugi that much. Do you even know if she'd be receptive to your advances?</p>
</blockquote><p>"You are <em>such</em> an asshole, Chloé," Marinette said, laughing as she typed out her response.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>I was trying to give you a compliment, but then you had to go and ruin it.</p>
</blockquote><p>Chloé deserved at least a little of her own style, Marinette thought as she sent the message. If it had an effect on Chloé, though, it didn't show in the reply.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>I think that's the nicest thing you've said about me yet. Should we get some coffee tomorrow after class and you can continue to try and learn how to compliment me?</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette shook her head and chuckled again. Whatever moment of insecurity Chloé might have had (or was having), she'd gone back to covering it up with bravado. Or what would have been bravado, if Marinette believed that Chloé was pretending. There was still a good chance that she wasn't.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>It's a date, but I get to pick the place. They have the best straws.</p>
</blockquote><p>Marinette waited long enough for Chloé to agree, then she put her phone down and started getting ready for bed. At the very least, she had an excuse to go back to the tea house that Kagami had taken her and Adrien to as an apology for Oni-Chan.</p>
<hr/><p>"One of the <em>best</em> things about sudden changes in your life is learning how much of your city is actively hostile to you," Chloé grumbled after driving up to the entrance to the tea house.</p><p>"I'm sorry," Marinette said. "I looked at the location, and a transit map to getting here, and some photographs of the surrounding area, and everything seemed accessible."</p><p>"I'm sure it did," Chloé said. "But that doesn't account for traffic. Or people who think waiting for a ramp to unfold and a person in their chair to get out is too long and they nearly cause collisions trying to dart around the car. Or they don't give the ramp enough space to fully unfold and glare at you like you are the problem."</p><p>"Ah," Marinette said. "The akuma attack probably didn't help, either."</p><p>"No, it did not. The level ground got torn up by the fighting and I was trying to find somewhere to hide and…I'm really glad that Ladybug was there quickly and drew the fighting away." Chloé looked away from Marinette quickly, trying to hide the flash of fear on her face. Marinette had known in the abstract that akuma fights always had casualties, but she'd trusted that Miraculous Cure had restored everyone to health (and life) from anything that had happened as a cause of the akuma. Thinking about how Chloé had feared for her life and been unable to do anything to protect herself, to run, to get away, she resolved to try and bring down Hawkmoth and Mayura more quickly. One of Chat Noir's not-really-jokes about crushing Hawkmoth's legacy picked up an additional meaning for her, if she ever got the chance to aim that low.</p><p>Marinette ordered for both of them. Chloé asked for a straw, since Marinette had encouraged her to, and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was not only long enough to reach her without effort, the straw had been bent into a shape that looked like a bee's stripes, in her opinion.</p><p>"You said Tsurugi introduced you to here?" Chloé said. Marinette nodded. "Tell her thank you for me the next time you see her."</p><p>Marinette smiled. "I will," she said. She fidgeted with her own drink for a bit. "So, there's a question that I need to ask you, Chloé."</p><p>"What's that, Dupain-Cheng?" Chloé said, looking up from her tea.</p><p>"Do you usually send messages asking about how pretty you are to everyone? Or show your special stash of form-fitting costumes to them?"</p><p>"Are you asking if I'm an exhibitionist, Dupain-Cheng?" Chloé deadpanned. </p><p>Marinette nearly spat her tea out. "N-no, that's not it. It…it didn't seem like a thing that you would do with someone who you thought was just a friend, Chloé. And you're still going to be who you are with Sabrina, so I wasn't sure where that puts me on your list, and I know that I said this was a date, but I wanted to give you the chance to say that I was just using an expression and that you weren't interested in me at all, but that makes me think about how wrecked I was when Adrien finally turned me down and I wasn't sure that I wanted to risk that again by directly asking you but I can't really figure it out otherwise. So," Marinette said, drawing in a breath that was for steadying herself rather than because she had reached the capacity of her lungs, "do you want to date, Chloé?"</p><p>Marinette watched Chloé's face intently, looking for any sign of what Chloé was thinking about what she had just said. Marinette cringed internally at the thought of how much easier it would be to read Chloé's mood if she had the full function of her body. If Chloé ever decided to hide what she was feeling from her face, she'd be completely unreadable. As it was, the only movement she could latch on to was Chloé's eyes and eyebrows as they went through a progression of raising, lowering, looking off into the distance, and other entirely unhelpful expressions before Chloé started laughing.</p><p>"You make the best faces when you're anxious, Dupain-Cheng," she said. "Yes, you can be my arm candy." </p><p>"No," Marinette said, drawing on Ladybug's courage. "We're dating, as equals. On a first-name basis. Neither of us is having <em>pity</em> on the other."</p><p>Chloé blinked and tilted her head, studying Marinette for a few beats before nodding. "I didn't expect you to throw that back at me, Marinette. Do you have any other demands to get out of the way?"</p><p>"I want you to go back to blogging, Chloé," Marinette said. "I don't want you to hide yourself, and I don't want you to hide our relationship. Which means I'm going to have to get a lot more comfortable with selfies and your willingness to aggravate the entire Internet, but I can survive being humiliated every now and then if it means that you're out."</p><p>Chloé rolled her eyes. "<em>Of course</em> I was going to go back to that, Dup—Marinette. Eventually," she added quietly. "But now you can help," Chloé said, back at her usual volume. "Take one of us together."</p><p>Marinette shuffled the table and put herself at head height with Chloé, opening her phone camera and pointing it at them.</p><p>"No, not like that," Chloé said immediately. "Angle it above us, it'll make the picture better. Yes, that's it."</p><p>A steady stream of corrections and settings changes from Chloé made it seem like a simple picture was much more like painting a fresco or composing a symphony, but Marinette could see how each change that Chloé demanded made the shot better. Marinette had known Chloé could be smart when she cared enough to be that way, which made sense, if belatedly, because taking pictures of herself was one of the things that Chloé cared about.</p><p>Finally, after minutes of fidgeting that threatened to turn into a cramp if she had to hold that position any longer, Chloé pronounced herself satisfied.</p><p>"Okay, three, two, one—" Marinette counted.</p><p>Chloé turned her head and kissed Marinette as the picture took. </p><p>"Perfect," Chloé said, as if she hadn't done anything out of the ordinary at all. "Send me that picture, and I'll put it up tonight."</p><p>Marinette, still dazed from the kiss, nodded and went back to her seat, making sure to send the photo to Chloé before her brain could freeze up at the sight of it.</p><p>"Oh, one more thing," Marinette said, as she returned to the present moment. "Once the whole school knows that we're dating, Lila is probably going to start feeding you a steady diet of lies about me to try and make you break up with me."</p><p>"Mm-hmm," Chloé nodded while sipping her tea. </p><p>Marinette stopped herself before launching into the fuller explanation. "Wait, you knew already?"</p><p>"I don't remember exactly when Rossi started, but she's really upped her shit-talking quota recently, and you're her favorite target," Chloé replied. "Adri-kins always looks like he wants to step in and slap some sense into her, but he hasn't done it yet, so I knew there was something up. When she tripped you trying to come to my rescue, though—which was really cute, even if it wasn't necessary, by the way—without any reason I could find, I knew whose side I was on."</p><p>"Huh," Marinette said.</p><p>"Beauty <em>and</em> brains," Chloé said, smirking. "Don't you feel lucky?"</p><p>"Yeah, I do," Marinette replied seriously. "I really do."</p><p>A quiet chime from Chloé’s phone drew her attention.</p><p>"Time for me to go," Chloé sighed. "Daddy didn't want me to 'exhaust myself' staying out too late. Tell me what my share is and I'll get it to you."</p><p>Chloé smiled before turning her chair and carefully navigating her way back to the entrance of the shop. </p><p>As first dates went, Marinette thought, that was better than she had expected. By the time she made it back to her room, Chloé had already written up a post to accompany the picture from the tea house.</p>
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  <p>Meet my new girlfriend. She's a ditz and a klutz, but in a cute kind of way. If you piss her off enough, though, she'll tell you exactly what she thinks of you, so unless you like brutal honesty, be nice to her. It's going to be a little weird as I…adjust, but sometimes you get blessed with someone as stubborn as you are.</p>
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